Hampshire

Status: Complete but undergoing revision, 5 volumes published

Hampshire Volume I was the very first VCH red volume to be completed, published on 1st January 1900. The county set was completed in four further volumes published in 1903, 1905, 1911 and 1912.

Nearly a century after the county was completed in 2007, a group of interested organizations came together to seek to revise and update the VCH Hampshire volumes. These partners included Hampshire County Council, the Hampshire Archives Trust, the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, and the University of Winchester. The new VCH Hampshire intends to update the original volumes and add topics including local government, public services, economy and society, migration, sport and recreation. The first three volumes of the new series will be about Basingstoke and its surrounding area.

The first parish history published by the New Victoria History of Hampshire group.

Mapledurwell, published December 2012, demonstrates how good parish histories have been transformed since the first VCH account published in 1911. This new history includes much more about the village itself and about its economy and society, highlighting the lives of ordinary people as well as tracing those who owned the parish's land and property. It discusses Quakers and Congregationalists as well as the congregation of the established church, and looks minutely at the history of elementary education revealing the appalling sanitary conditions suffered by pupils at the local school.

Mapledurwell is typical of many Hampshire downland parishes in which the present-day landscape reflects an earlier open-field system. Its village recorded in Domesday Book, is rural and picturesque with many attractive timber-framed cottages, the oldest of which dates from the 15th century. Corpus Christi College, Oxford, has been lord of the manor for over 500 years and research in their excellent archives has enhanced this study.

Copies can be purchased directly from Dr Jean Morrin. History Dept., University of Winchester, Winchester SO22 4NR. Price £7 plus £2 P&P. Cheques for £9 should be made out to Hampshire Archives Trust. Alternatively copies may be purchased directly from the School of Advanced Study (print or digital) or for Kindle via Amazon.